{"id":8146,"date":"2023-05-23T04:27:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T08:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/?page_id=8146"},"modified":"2026-06-23T09:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T13:36:15","slug":"satisfactory-academic-progress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/programs-admissions\/ms-data-science\/satisfactory-academic-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Satisfactory Academic Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Graduate<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0Information<\/em><\/span><\/h4>\n

Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences Policy\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) is the term used when determining a student\u2019s\u00a0eligibility for\u00a0federal financial aid\u00a0(which includes federal loans and federal work study). At the end of each payment period\u00a0or\u00a0semester, a review of student\u2019s SAP is conducted. A student\u2019s failure to meet SAP standards may result in loss of federal financial aid eligibility.\u00a0
\n<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Please be advised that SAP\u00a0standards are utilized solely to determine federal aid eligibility. All CDS students must\u00a0still abide by CDS Academic\u00a0Standards and\u00a0Policies.<\/p>\n

CDS Minimum Standard for Satisfactory Academic Progress\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA): <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Residential (on-campus) students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher. <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Online students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 2.50 or higher. <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Cumulative GPA calculations include all courses in which a student received a final grade, including grades of W (Withdrawal), I (Incomplete) or F (Fail), if those grades remain on the transcript at the end of the payment period.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Minimum Completion Rate:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Residential (on-campus) students must successfully complete at least 67% of all cumulative attempted credit hours.<\/span><\/li>\n
    • Online students must successfully complete at least 67% of all cumulative attempted credit hours.<\/li>\n
    • The completion rate is calculated by dividing the total number of earned credit hours by the total number of attempted credit hours, including all accepted transfer credits and repeated coursework.<\/li>\n
    • Retaking courses affects pace: While repeated courses count toward attempted credits, only the credits from the successfully completed (passed) attempt will count as earned credits. Repeating failed or withdrawn courses may lower a student’s completion rate. If a student is repeating a course that was previously failed, the student is eligible to receive federal aid for that course. If a student is repeating a course that was previously passed but with a grade of 70 or less, the student can receive financial aid to retake this course only one additional time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Degree Completion Maximum\u00a0Time Limits:<\/strong>\u00a0Master\u2019s degrees must be completed within five years and PhD degrees must be completed within seven years after the first registration for that degree\u00a0(except for periods of authorized leave).\u00a0In addition, a full-time or certified full-time PhD student who is in good academic standing and who becomes the primary caregiver of an infant or adopted child will receive a one-year extension of their approved time to degree.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Petitions for extensions of time to complete degree requirements must be submitted prior to the end of the above limits. Students exceeding these time limits without an approved petition for an extension of time will not be permitted to register.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

      Financial Aid Warning\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

      A student\u00a0who fails\u00a0to maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress\u00a0will be\u00a0automatically placed on Federal Financial Aid Warning for the next registered\u00a0semester\u00a0or payment period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      • A student will receive an electronic notification to their\u00a0Boston University\u00a0email address regarding the Satisfactory Academic Progress standards that must be met by the end of the warning period in order to retain eligibility for future federal financial aid.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        SAP Appeal Process\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

        A student\u00a0who\u00a0does not meet the minimum requirements for SAP at the end of the Financial Aid Warning period will be ineligible for federal financial aid\u00a0in the following semester.\u00a0An electronic notification\u00a0detailing the appeal process for mitigating circumstances will\u00a0be sent\u00a0to the\u00a0student\u2019s\u00a0Boston University email address. A student has the right to appeal the loss of financial aid eligibility if mitigating circumstances (events totally beyond the student\u2019s control) occurred during the pre-warning and warning periods:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        Some examples of appealable circumstances include: serious illness or injury of the student; serious illness, injury or death of an immediate family member; being victim of a violent crime or house fire; other special circumstances such as divorce, job loss, or financial difficulties.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The student must submit to the CDS Financial Aid Office: 1) a\u00a0letter of\u00a0appeal,\u00a02) supporting documentation, and 3) an\u00a0advisor or student success specialist approved academic plan\u00a0by the\u00a0deadline of the\u00a0last day to drop a course (without a W)\u00a0for the semester in which the student is ineligible for aid. Appeals received after the deadline can be automatically denied.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        • A student\u00a0may\u00a0only submit an appeal for the\u00a0period\u00a0directly following their Warning period.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
        • Appeals are only granted once per a student\u2019s academic career.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
        • A student must be registered for courses during the semester\u00a0for which\u00a0they are submitting the appeal. Appeals will not be considered for students\u00a0who\u00a0have dropped\u00a0courses or withdrawn.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
        • A student is responsible for all tuition and fee charges at the time the balance is due, even if they are planning to appeal or are waiting for a response from CDS.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
        • The letter of appeal and supporting documentation should simply explain the mitigating circumstances the student faced during the pre-warning and\/or warning periods that affected their academic performance. The SAP Appeals Committee may ask for additional information to help determine their decision.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
        • The academic plan should simply outline clear and specific steps the student will take to achieve the required cumulative GPA and\/or completion rate, bringing them back into compliance with the standard, ideally within the next registered semester or payment period. It should include a minimum of two meetings during the semester with their academic advisor or student success specialist to review their progress. <\/span><\/li>\n
        • The decision of the SAP Appeals Committee is final,\u00a0and students will receive an electronic communication to their university email address regarding the outcome.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
        • A student\u00a0whose appeal has been approved will receive federal financial aid consideration for the current term. At the end of the semester\/payment period, the student\u2019s academic progress will be reviewed again to determine\u00a0financial aid\u00a0eligibility\u00a0for the following semester.\u00a0The student must continue to follow the guidelines of their academic plan on a semester-by-semester basis to be allowed access to federal aid, until such time that they are fully meeting the SAP standard. If the university determines at any time that the student is not following their academic plan, the student is immediately ineligible for federal aid. <\/span><\/li>\n
        • A student whose appeal has been denied is not eligible for financial aid until he\/she meets satisfactory academic progress standards.\u00a0\u00a0The student may continue to enroll in courses but is responsible for all University charges.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

           <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Graduate\u00a0Information Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences Policy\u00a0 Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) is the term used when determining a student\u2019s\u00a0eligibility for\u00a0federal financial aid\u00a0(which includes federal loans and federal work study). At the end of each payment period\u00a0or\u00a0semester, a review of student\u2019s SAP is conducted. A student\u2019s failure to meet SAP standards may result in loss […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18026,"featured_media":0,"parent":19243,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8146"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18026"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8146"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20570,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8146\/revisions\/20570"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cds-faculty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}